Student Spotlight: Thomas Doggett

Thomas DoggettMajor: Criminal Justice/

Photography

Not many people can incorporate a personal interest into a career, but Thomas Doggett
has managed to do just that.

Doggett is a full-time police officer who uses his photographic skills on the job
as a crime scene investigator. He earned degrees in both Criminal Justice and Photography
at College of DuPage, but he never planned on a career that combined the two. In fact,
while he was in the Army, he took a few Criminal Justice classes and decided to follow
up at COD once he left the service.

“I was hired as a Police Officer in 1990 and earned my A.A.S. degree in Criminal Justice
in 1992,” he said. “A lot has changed in law enforcement since then. When I initially
started, very few officers had college degrees of any level. Now most have a bachelor’s
and many a master’s degree. Back in 1992, I was working as a deputy sheriff at the
DuPage County Sheriff’s Office, and having the associate’s degree in Criminal Justice
definitely helped when I was interviewing for an internal job as a death investigator
at the DuPage County Coroner’s Office.”

It was there that he began to apply his knowledge of photography, an interest that
developed while he was in the Army.

“In 1985, I had bought a small compact Kodak Disc camera that I carried in my cargo
pocket, and I would take photographs of the other soldiers in my unit,” He said. “Many
of those images still remain my favorites. I liked photography but was not technically
proficient and never really saw photography as an income source.”

While at the Coroner’s office, Doggett received his initial training as an Evidence
Technician (now referred to as a CSI), which required a solid knowledge base of 35mm
SLR photography. In 1997, he transferred to the Batavia Police Department and, because
of his experience at the Coroner’s office, was assigned the ancillary duties of CSI
with both the Batavia Police Department and Kane County Major Crimes Task Force.

He then began photography courses at College of DuPage, where he already was taking
a variety of classes of personal interest, including woodworking and real estate.
He eventually took enough photography classes to earn an A.A.S. degree in Photography
Technology in 2002.

“I can’t say that I was aiming for another degree but simply following a personal
interest and taking advantage of the COD darkroom facilities,” he said. “I came from
a family that had a strong visual arts influence. My dad always had a video camera
out, and my sister followed him and eventually earned an M.A. degree in Video Arts
and actually teaches at COD.

“The skills I learned at COD transferred very easily to the crime scene investigation
work I was doing. Professionally, I have succeeded more in the area of forensic photography
than that of my personal interests. It is important to mention that 20 years ago –
and in some cases even less than 10 years ago – we were still shooting film. Crime
scene photography was an important skill in the field. There was no LCD screen on
which you could check the shot and, after leaving a scene, there was no going back.
Because I had been self-teaching in addition to formal instruction in the classroom,
my photography skills were developing quickly.”

Doggett said most duties are routine, with the more exciting cases being the homicides
that he worked at the Coroner’s office and with the Kane County Major Crimes Task
Force. He cites the 2004 Linda Duchaine homicide in Batavia as one of his most interesting
cases.

“I was on it from the very beginning when it started as a simple battery report until
the very end when she was found dead,” he explained. “During the scene investigation,
the case kept unraveling until we realized we had a second kidnapping victim and eventually
a homicide. There were multiple crime scenes in Batavia, Aurora and Kane County. During
the investigation, I photographed scenes from a cherry picker, airplane, the interior
of an attic, cistern, and the small confines of a bloody vehicle, just to name a few.
It happened over Easter weekend and there were so many officers from multiple local,
state and federal jurisdictions who left family holiday events to help work the case.
Unfortunately, Duchaine was found murdered but most people will never know the amount
of work and lack of sleep that was put in by so many officers over that weekend.”

Since earning his Photography degree, Doggett has obtained a B.A. in Business Management
from Benedictine University. He is an EPIC certified Evidence Photographer, IAI Certified
Crime Scene Investigator and Illinois licensed Emergency Medical Technician (EMT-B).
He holds ancillary CSI duties with the Kane County Major Crimes Task Force and maintains
the Photo Lab for the Batavia Police Department. He occasionally instructs classes
in forensic photography with several accredited institutions. In 2014, he became president
of the Illinois Division of the International Association for Identification (IDIAI).

Such marriages of career and personal interest are not common, but Doggett has made
it work and enjoys both aspects of his job. He appreciates everything he’s learned
at College of DuPage.

“Initially, it was my community college of residence,” he said. “Later, I really liked
the availability of classes that fit around my schedule.”

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